Jim and Judys Wycliffe Journey

Messages from McCabe’s

March, 2013

Its hard to believe we have been working in Chad one year, the end of February. The time has flown by. We have been sending updates, Facebook; Jim and Judy McCabe: and our Blog:

http://jim-judys-wycliffe.blogspot.com; and emails: jim_mccabe@sil.org or judy_mccabe@sil.org. We haven’t sent a paper letter so far. It is a little more of a challenge to do that from here, with printing and sending, etc. So at long last, here it is with pictures.

Jim’s Work: Since arriving in 2012 these are some of the major projects I have been involved in.

Remodeling offices in our administration/translation building. Several walls, doors, and windows had to be moved. Cracks were filled and everything painted.

The concrete floor in the new library was cracking, so we removed about 600 sq. foot of the upper layer of the flooring and poured new concrete, then laid tile on it. We built screened security walls and access counters, desks and tables were fabricated. Fabrication of 40, 9 foot by 40 inch steel shelving for the books. Custom brackets had to be made to hold them together and secure to the walls.

Our 10 X 10 X 10 foot water tank mounted on a 35 ft. concrete tower and surrounded by concrete block walls, sprung a leak. (This happened the day after we returned from our USA visit/sick leave in Dec.)

Then there are the constant repairs and replacing of parts on the facility. I have 4 full time maintenance men who keep very busy. Our first 12 months found Judy and I working 8 plus hours a day, 6 days a week, so we got pretty worn out. This second 12 months we are trying to work less and rest more. It is helping!

Judy’s role: Our facility has residence and guest apartments for rent by missionaries working in Chad. We have 3 apartment buildings with 8 apartments in each. One building has 2-3 bedrooms; the other units have one or two bedrooms. We also have 12 dormitories connected to our training center.

My main responsibility is for the 3 apartment buildings. I coordinate the reservations and supervise all the cleaning and preparation for them. When Wycliffe missionaries first arrive, I make sure they have a couple meals lined up and some food in their fridge for their first day here. 12 of our apartments are rented by long-term staff working in N’Djamena. We live in the bottom corner apartment in the photo above . We are very happy here.

Health: We are so thankful that we have been healthy, for the most part. The heat last year was really tough and exhausting. But we survived. Jim got a virus/influenza mid-October. He ran a high fever for three days and had very bad cough. After three weeks the cough was lessening, but the debilitating fatigue remained. He could only work one hour at a time. It was very frustrating for him.

Violette, 2 yrs and Isaac 3 mo.

November 6th we flew to the USA for a mini break. Jim was still very fatigued. After one week visiting Jody’s family in Asheville, NC, he flew to Tucson. Judy remained in Asheville to help Jody with our new grandson, Isaac. Jim saw several doctors and specialist and had many tests. In the end nothing was found to explain it. But we now know his heart and lungs are in great shape.

Nearly two months after it started, he suddenly started feeling better. Prayer works!! He is feeling back to normal now. We did have to delay our return to Chad, but that allowed us to spend Christmas with all our children and grandchildren. Blessings in disguise!!

End Results

One day in early summer, we got word that a truck was arriving with cases of New Testaments in 3 languages of Chad. What a joy it was to help unload them. Even more joy knowing they were going to many who would read God’s Word in their language for the first time. Two of these New Testaments were dedicated in November and the third in December. This was a culmination of decades of work to make this happen. Please pray for literacy programs in these areas and that the Holy Spirit will feed their souls as they read or hear it read.

Future needs and Prayer Requests for Chad and Us

Pray for a replacement for our personnel director who has been doing her job from Australia because of health issues. We really need someone in-country.

Please pray for more teachers to come teach at the Christian school. It’s a K-8. They have two full-time teachers, and one of them leaves this year, the other needs a furlough next year.

Pray for our continuing good health.

You too can volunteer here in Chad. We just had a couple here for 10 days in January doing a maintenance survey for Jim. An auditor from California also volunteered his time last month. They filled a big need. November to February are relatively cool months, so come join in the adventure!

Finally, please pray for renters for our home in Tucson. We have seen Him provide so many things when we needed them, so we trust Him for this too.